Purpose: Although social capital and positive reputation in organizations are essential for career success, there is a limited perspective in the literature on the political characteristics (motivation and ability) that enable one to acquire and develop the two elements. This study seeks to investigate the sequential role of political skill and network resources as serial mediators of the political will–personal reputation relationship.

Methodology: In total, what provided data for the study were 457 sales executives from 13 different sectors in the cities of İstanbul, Kocaeli, and Bursa, which is an economically leading region of western Turkey. Executives rated their political will, political skill network resources, and personal reputation. Based on the complementary theories of political influence, social network, and signaling, we analyzed the relationships between constructs with structural equation modeling.

Findings: Political skill mediated the relationship between political will and network resources,
network resources mediated the relationship between political skill and personal reputation, while political skill and network resources sequentially mediated the relationship between political will and personal reputation.

Implications: The data were collected from a single source.

Practical Implications: Political will, political skill training, and social networks may help individuals manage their personal reputation at work, thus benefiting their careers.

Originality/Value: This is one of the first studies to sequentially investigate how individuals’ characteristics (motivation and ability) develop their social network and personal reputation at work. Moreover, theories of political influence, social capital, and signaling were jointly used for the first time ever.

Purpose: The fundamental objective of this article is to discern whether business model maturity is perceived through the prism of the ability to deal with unexpected challenges, overcome unprecedented threats, and use emerging business opportunities (agility) or – perhaps – more as a feature of the organization, which makes a business model less vulnerable to unpredictable external changes or sets it in a better position to make it respond effectively to these changes (flexibility).

Methodology: The reconnaissance of opinions requires the creation of a catalog of desiderata that significantly identify agility and flexibility. Theoretical and design layers will use a method of reconstruction and interpretation of the subject literature supported by a discussion within a group of deliberately selected experts. This will be reflected in a set of parameters, on the one hand, characteristic of the categories of agility and flexibility and, on the other hand, reflecting business model maturity.

Findings: The conducted research allows us to state that mature business models – as implemented by the surveyed companies – are perceived rather through the prism of the strategic ability of enterprises to quickly adapt to unforeseen and sudden changes on the market (agility category).

Originality: The article includes not only academic postulates of agility or flexibility but also practical tips that enable constructing guidelines for decision-makers and managers of the agricultural machinery sector. The study carries a charge of a theoretical and empirical study. It takes into account knowledge and expert experience.

Purpose: To determine the impact of changes in tax burden in Ukraine on the country’s economic freedom.

Methodology: The study applies qualitative methods for historical analysis, periodization of reforms, and classification of their key priorities and influences. Quantitative methods are applied to compare tax burden (tax-to-GDP ratio) in Ukraine and OECD countries. The overall success and failure of tax reforms was measured by the index of economic freedom, including its component, the index of tax burden (fiscal freedom). The first hypothesis suggested that a reduction in tax burden positively impacted the level of economic freedom in Ukraine; the second hypothesis stated that a reduction in tax burden positively affected the fiscal freedom of Ukraine. Regressions in average tax burden and the index of economic freedom, including the index of tax burden, were built in R software.

Findings: Regression analysis did not confirm the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis was confirmed. Reduced tax burden does not affect the level of economic freedom of Ukraine. This is explained by the slow progress of institutional reforms in Ukraine. The reduction of tax burden has a significant positive impact on the level of fiscal freedom.

Practical Implications: The results obtained have practical relevance for the elaboration of fiscal policies in developing countries, in accordance with the country’s economic and political development priorities.

Research Limitations/Implications: Future research will include a more in-depth comparative
analysis of tax reforms in Ukraine, focusing on the key taxes.

Purpose: The increasing role of digitalization in the operation of enterprises actualizes the
implementation of the basic methods of proper digitalization processes. The selection of an
appropriate method to introduce digitalization is crucial, as it affects the optimization level of the business processes.

Methodology: Specific multicriteria selection method includes five steps to identify these approaches, considering the relative error for each approach, as it affects the outcome with the performance indicator of business process digitalization. The strongest criterion value is used to identify the optimal approach. The evaluation of the methods showed that the performance of the logistic, administrative, and innovative methods is not worse than the Pareto principle.

Findings: Introducing digitalization in the administrative method has the biggest impact. The chosen method showed that Human Resources processes require modification to reduce costs. A mechanism to digitalize the personnel management processes using artificial intelligence was developed.

Implications: The results of multivariate multicriteria analysis show that the implementation of artificial intelligence minimizes human factors and optimizes time and costs.

Originality: The main contribution is the development of the method for the selection of an appropriate digitalization approach, which encompasses an implementation mechanism that can be adapted to enterprises’ needs.

Purpose: Gratitude is an interdisciplinary concept frequently explored in positive psychology, which recognizes gratitude as one of the seven transcendent character forces that promote well-being and life satisfaction. The purpose of the conducted research was to develop the concept of gratitude toward the organization and prepare a tool to study this phenomenon.

Methods: The study was cross-sectional. Participants were 802 employees from various organizations.

Results: The Gratitude Toward the Organization Scale has a good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α was 0.91). Factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure of this tool. The dimensions of gratitude toward the organization are distinguished as: (1) gratitude as a commitment to reciprocity and (2) gratitude as a moral norm. The construct validity of this measure was confirmed. Gratitude toward the organization correlated positively with job satisfaction, affective commitment to the organization, organizational justice, and perceived organizational and supervisor support, while being negatively correlated with intent to leave the organization.

Conclusions: The obtained results confirm very good psychometric properties of the Gratitude Toward the Organization Scale as a valid and reliable measure for studying the gratitude of employees, which can be successfully used by researchers in Poland.